Portman Supports Helping The Poor With Small Loans

Movie beauty Natalie Portman is backing a programme aiming to provide women in developing countries with small loans.

The Closer actress has been working with loan company Finca International and has seen first hand the difference a small monetary advance can make.

Speaking on US TV’s This Week show, Portman said: “They’re able to get a loan and start their own business out of their own house and be with their children. It changes the whole system. If a woman can’t tell her child, ‘I can feed you tomorrow, I can pay for your school,’ then where do they go? What do they do? What do they choose?”

She added: “It’s really trying to reach the poorest of the poor and offering banking services to them.”